Five Superstars Who Could Benefit From the Superstar Shakeup

It is rumored that some time after WrestleMania the WWE will hold another SUperstar Shakeup where members of the Raw and SmackDown rosters could be shipped to the opposite brand. The best thing about the Superstar Shakeup is that it gives both shows a fresh new feel with the chance to see different matchups and hopefully some new feuds. Another positive thing the Superstar Shakeup can do is revitalize the careers of some talent that have grown stagnant in their standing on Raw or SmackDown. Just who can use a fresh new start on a new brand?

Elias

Over the past few weeks, Elias has gone from winning the fans over at the expense of Baron Corbin to having a match with Jeff Jarrett to annihilating a guitar over the back of Kalisto. None of these things has done favors for Elias and it looks as though he’s headed into the direction of an afterthought. But he doesn’t have to be. Go back months ago and Elias almost had a Seattle crowd wanting to riot for simply making fun of their non-existent basketball team. The crowd wouldn’t let him speak for what felt like an eternity. To elicit that sort of natural angst and animosity in this day and age is something special. Getting the crowd riled up like that is sort of a lost art in wrestling but Elias has all the intangibles to be SmackDown’s next great bad guy. I’d love to see Elias have programs with the likes of Mustafa Ali, AJ Styles, or any member of The New Day. This time instead of changing his personality because you can’t control the reaction, just roll with it.

Apollo Crews

Crews is the perfect combination of size, agility, and strength. If I wanted to show a friend something cool in wrestling I would definitely pull something out of Apollo’s old catalog. That is the most perplexing thing about Crews even since he arrived in NXT (and others if we really wanted to debate). He has everything you could ask for if you wanted to have a hybrid performer. He can dazzle the crowd with a standing moonsault or military pressing a man over the top rope. I’d love to see him in a feud with Daniel Bryan or Samoa Joe. He would come in sort of unproven as an underdog who can win the crowd over with his natural likability.

Sonya Deville

Listen, I love the pairing of Deville and Mandy Rose. When you have two people with as close a friendship as those two you have natural unshaken chemistry. There is just something about Sonya Deville that gives you the impression she could be a major star, for whatever brand, on her own. The list of women I’d love to see her in a feud with basically lists every woman on the WWE roster. Her background in MMA and how she incorporates that into her work in the ring makes her believable. She is no-nonsense, tough as nails and is not afraid to go after the biggest, baddest wolf. I like that.

The Usos

I understand this may be a little difficult seeing as The Usos just defeated Shane McMahon and The Miz for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships but let us take that out of the equation. These guys are the best Tag Team in all of wrestling. With every performance, you know your eyes are going to stay glued to the TV because these guys are going to give you a show. I could sit and watch Usos/New Day matches all day long but how sweet would it be to see The Usos and The Revival mix it up over some titles? It’s a perfect clash of styles that could make magic the same way Usos do with The New Day. With The Revival winning the Raw Tag Team Champions the hope is that tag Team wrestling would be taken more seriously with the WWE. What better team to help make that so than the team who helped make SmackDown the show to watch if you want some action.

AJ Styles

AJ Styles is hands down the best performer in all of WWE. Night after night you know that Styles is going to give you an A+ performance, often times making you hate the fact that WWE passed him up so many times years before. Yes I know, SmackDown is the “House that AJ Styles built” but it’s starting to seem like he’s grown too big for his own house. It seems like people just keep coming in and out of his house and despite losing the title to said house Styles keeps everyone off his lawn. We’ve seen him run through Jinder Mahal, Samoa Joe, and Shinsuke Nakamura to name a few. Styles held the WWE Championship for over a year, something out of the ordinary in WWE. Since he debuted to even up to his performance in the Elimination Chamber AJ Styles has been at the top of his game while still elevating others. I think he’s the best in the WWE, many people feel the same. But who’s to say Seth Rollins doesn’t deserve the claim? Can he beat Finn Balor a second time? How would a feud with Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, or Braun Strowman play out? The possibilities are endless but the main take away is this. AJ Styles can still claim to be the best, but he’s got a lot of guys on the opposite end of the fence coming up on his heels.

So there you have it, those are my picks for who I’d love to see switch sides. I’m sure I forgot some and let us not forget that we have big players like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Bray Wyatt on the cusp of returning from injury. Those names and the Superstar Shakeup itself can definitely pump some new life into WWE.

What Superstars would you like to see switch brands? Let us know your picks in the comments.

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Published by Erik Vasquez

I created The Wrestling Chronicle back in 2013 as a means to have a place where I could discuss my thoughts on pro wrestling. It has never been about posting news stories for clicks but showcasing that pro wrestling is an athletic contest like any other sport and it uses science and psychology to tell dramatic stories. To me pro wrestling is magic and I love talking about it.
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